3SOF

AP
Dow Reaches New High on Bernanke Remarks
Wednesday February 14, 6:57 pm ET
By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer 
Dow Reaches New Closing High of 12,742 on Ben Bernanke's Comments About Economy, Inflation


NEW YORK (AP) -- The Dow Jones industrials set new highs Wednesday when stocks extended their gains for a second day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate panel the economy should grow modestly this year and that he expects inflation will continue to ease.


The combined gains Wednesday and Thursday were the Dow's biggest since Aug. 15-16.

Wall Street, which had faced some concern about whether Bernanke might sound a hawkish note on inflation, welcomed his benign remarks. While investors might debate whether the Fed will lower short-term interest rates later this year, Wall Street appeared more confident the central bank was at least likely to leave rates unchanged, as it has in recent meetings.

Investors pleased by a sense that the overall economy is doing well managed to look past a Commerce Department report that retail sales were essentially flat in January amid slumping automobile sales. It was the weakest showing in three months and below what Wall Street had forecast.

News that DaimlerChrysler AG plans to chop 13,000 Chrysler workers under a plan to restore the U.S. operations' profitability by next year pleased investors. But Coca-Cola Co.'s earnings disappointed Wall Street.

"I think what we're having is a victory lap. So far the Fed's forecasts have been almost been spot on," said Drew Matus, senior economist at Lehman Brothers Inc. "So what this tells us is that the Fed is most likely not in any hurry to move rates in either direction."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 87.01, or 0.69 percent, to 12,741.86. The Dow set an intraday high of 12,759.40, eclipsing a high of 12,700.28 set Feb. 7. The blue chip average also finished at a new high, its 28th record close since the start of October. The previous record, set Feb. 1, was 12,673.68.

Wednesday marked the first time since March 17, 1998, the Dow industrials, transportation and utilities averages have closed at simultaneous highs. Such an alignment has now occurred only 20 times since 1929. The New York Stock Exchange Composite index closed at a record high 9,427.31.

Other stock indicators also climbed Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.04, or 0.76 percent, to 1,455.30. The large-cap index is trading at its highest level in more than six years.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 28.50, or 1.16 percent, rising to 2,488.38.

Bonds rose sharply following Bernanke's testimony, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.74 percent from 4.81 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was lower versus most major currencies, except the yen. Gold prices rose.

Light, sweet crude settled down $1.06 at $58 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after weekly domestic inventory data showed stores of distillates such as home heating oil fell by less than analysts had been expecting. A brush of cold weather across much of the nation had led forecasters to expect a larger decline.

But much of investors' attention remained on Bernanke's testimony. He didn't rule out the possibility of rate hikes, saying interest rates remain "somewhat elevated." Investors were receptive to his assessment that a precipitous slowdown in the housing sector was showing early signs of easing.

Matus said the Fed appears mostly happy with where the economy stands and that a rate hike would likely come only after the economy gave off strong inflationary signals.

"Given what we heard from him there would need to be some pretty good evidence that inflation was moving in the wrong direction," Matus said. "There's no sense in rocking the boat if the boat is going in the right direction."

The Fed left short-term interest rates, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, at 5.25 percent in late January. It was the fifth straight time the Fed had stood pat on interest rates and followed a string of 17 consecutive increases that began in 2004.

The flurry of news Wednesday follows a day in which stocks showed sharp gains -- the Dow Jones industrial average added 102 points -- after news that two companies were vying for aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. helped drive a notion that Wall Street would see an uptick in acquisition activity. Alcoa fell 43 cents to $34.57.

In corporate news Wednesday, Coca-Cola's fourth-quarter profit fell 22 percent despite higher sales. Excluding one-time items, profits at the world's largest beverage maker topped Wall Street's forecast. Coca-Cola slipped 33 cents to $47.88.

DaimlerChrysler rose $5.33, or 8.3 percent, to $69.78 after announcing its plan to slash costs.

Deere & Co. rose $9.24, or 9 percent, to $111.91 after the maker of farm equipment said profits increased as sales overseas made up for declines in the U.S. and Canada.

Garmin Ltd., which makes navigation devices that use global positioning systems, saw fourth-quarter profits more than double amid strong sales. Garmin advanced $4.29, or 8.1 percent, to $57.

Solar cell maker First Solar Inc. surged $9.44, or 27.5 percent, to $43.72 after its fourth-quarter earnings topped Wall Street's forecast.

Daktronics Inc. fell $8, or 21 percent, to $30.09 after company, which makes electronic scoreboards and video displays, predicted fourth-quarter revenue would come in below Wall Street's expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 2.71 billion shares compared with 2.64 billion shares traded Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.46, or 0.18 percent, to 813.99. The Russell also set a new intraday high of 818.19, edging past a high of 817.01 set Friday.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.74 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed up 0.62 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 0.95 percent, and France's CAC-40 increased 0.76 percent.

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

Dow Claws Way to Record.......

2/15/2007


Stocks extended their rally to a third session Thursday as an abundance of benign economic data and rate-friendly comments from the Federal Reserve chairman quashed any worries about new central bank tightening.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 23.15 points, or 0.18%, to 12,765.01, establishing a new all-time closing high. The S&P 500 was 1.51 points, or 0.1%, higher at 1456.81, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 8.72 points, or 0.35%, at 2497.10.

Of the Dow's 30 components, only 13 finished the day in positive territory, led by gains of 2% or more in Caterpillar (CAT:) and Boeing (BA:) .

"You need a broad-based rally in order to say that we have an uptrend, so we seem to be struggling more than anything else," said Edgar Peters, chief investment officer with Pan Agora. "We did get some good news for interest rates, but that's not necessarily good news for earnings. We should probably be in store for some consolidation."

Roughly 2.49 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Advancers beat decliners by a 10-to-7 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached nearly 1.98 billion shares, with winners outpacing losers 8 to 7.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke wrapped up his congressional testimony as he testified before the House of Representatives. During his remarks Wednesday, which were echoed Thursday, Bernanke said the central bank is comfortable with interest rates and that some tentative signs of stabilization have recently appeared in the housing market.

Those benign comments gave stocks a boost Wednesday. The industrials climbed 87.01 points, or 0.69%, and the S&P rose 11.04 points, or 0.76%, to 1455.30. The Nasdaq gained 28.50 points, or 1.16%, to 2488.38.

During the last three sessions, the Dow has surged 212 points and the Nasdaq has jumped 47.

"Mr. Bernanke's testimony continues the incremental reduction in hawkishness evident in the past few months'' FOMC statement, though there is nothing here that could be legitimately described as outright dovish," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics, in a written message. "We don't think this represents a real change in stance, so the market reaction looks overdone."

Meanwhile, the economic docket was filled to the brim. The New York Fed said its Empire State Manufacturing index unexpectedly surged to a reading of 24.4 in February, up from 9.1 in January. Economists anticipated a slight increase to a reading of 11.

On the other hand, data from the Philadelphia Fed showed that manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region fell dramatically in February. The index came in at a reading of 0.6, down from 8.3 in January. Economists expected a slight decline to 4.0.

Elsewhere, the Labor Department said its import price index fell 1.2% last month, mostly in line with expectations. Imported petroleum prices fell 7.3% last month, and natural gas prices tumbled by 12%. Excluding petroleum, import prices were flat for the month.

Jobless claims rose last week by a greater-than-expected 44,000 to 357,000, according to a separate report from the Labor Department. The sharp increase was blamed on inclement weather across the U.S. The less-volatile four-week moving average climbed by 17,500 claims to 326,250.

In another report, industrial production fell 0.5% in January, well below the consensus of an unchanged reading. Capacity utilization fell to 81.2% last month from 81.8% in December, also below consensus.

In equities, the pace of earnings reports has slowed dramatically in the last couple of weeks, but influential names continue to appear. Ahead of the opening bell, oil-services outfit Baker Hughes (BHI:) said its quarterly revenue rose more than 20% year over year but its profits fell short of analysts'' forecasts. Shares dropped $6.75, or 9.4%, to $65.19.

As for the day's research calls, Goldman Sachs downgraded AMR (AMR:) , parent of American Airlines, but upgraded low-fare carrier JetBlue (JBLU:) .

AMR lost 1.2% to $38.05, while JetBlue gained 4.7% to close at $13.85.

AG Edwards raised its rating on American Eagle Outfitters (AEOS:) to buy from hold, and Prudential cut its rating on Schering-Plough (SGP:) to neutral from overweight.

American Eagle finished higher by 1.2% to $32.11, and Schering-Plough was off 1.2% to end the session at $24.46.

Treasury prices continued to rally. The 10-year note was up 9/32 in price, yielding 4.70%, and the 30-year was rising 17/32 to yield 4.80%.

Commodities lost ground. Oil futures dipped by a penny to close at $57.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and gold lost 60 cents at $671.40 an ounce.

Stocks were mixed in Europe but rose in Asia. London's FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 6433, and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX was 0.1% weaker at 6957. Tokyo's Nikkei was up 0.8% at 17,897, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.6% to 20,538.

Signs of a Top, or Just Noise?

In the current scene, one indicator I follow is the Weekly MACD...so far, it remains positive on the Dow, QQQQ and the Transports.I also watch the P-SAR trip on the weekly for any changes, there have been few.

If there is one early tipoff to a significant correction, it is in the PVO (Price Volume Oscillator). I try to correlate the PVO with MACD on the weekly charts.I have found that PVO begins its descent and goes negative before the MACD falls in many cases. Currently, the PVO is in negative territory and falling further on QQQQ and DJIA even as MACD continues to run above neutral, this could be the early tipoff, watching it closely for now.

PVO looks especially weak in comparison to rising MACD (in a divergence) on the following "stock leaders":

GOOG
AAPL
INTC
AKAM
GM*
XOM

*GM in some people's eyes is not a market leader, yet it led the Dow 30 in 2006.

So, the above big name stocks have all had negative, sinking PVO readings on the weekly charts for the past month or two, even as their MACD remain in positive territory.

What this says to me is that the "smart money" is slowly pulling out of these stocks, and not much fresh money is coming in...these stocks may have topped already!!

Among the indices:

QQQQ has a sinking PVO right at zero, with divergent (positive) MACD
$INDU is a negative and falling PVO with MACD flat-lining at a lofty 300.
SPY's PVO is really getting ugly, even as its MACD flat-lines at a lofty 3.7 reading.

(Try running SDS on the same weekly view, it's just the opposite divergence of SPY, though only a brief reading is available on the weekly chart because it is still a new issue.)


In summation, though a sinking/ negative PVO with divergent MACD is not always a signal of a top, it does give me concern that dollar in-flows are slowing into the key stocks of this market, and in some cases, when PVO diverges from the direction of MACD, a downturn may not be too far off. The sell signals have not tripped yet, but I am keeping a close eye on P-SAR for a trip on the weekly charts...that will be the signal to sell almost everything except ETFs like SDS and QID...and possibly hold on to any gold stocks you may have.

Wall Street Finds Footing.......

2/28/2007


Stocks in New York endured a back-and-forth morning Wednesday before enough bargain hunters emerged to lift the market solidly into positive territory following the prior session's mammoth selloff.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 58 points, or 0.5%, to 12,274, but was still below its highest level of the day.

At its worst, the Dow was lower by 28 points and, at its best, the blue-chip index was better by more than 130 points. Out of 30 components, 21 were trading higher. Procter & Gamble (PG:) was the best performer, up 3.6%.

The S&P 500 was adding 8 points, or 0.6%, at 1407, and the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2419.

On Tuesday, a global selloff sent the major U.S. averages to some of the worst single-day point losses they've ever seen. The Dow plunged 416.02 points, or 3.29%, to 12,216.24, its biggest one-session decline since the market reopened six days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Briefly, the Dow was down as much as 546 points.

The Nasdaq sank 96.65 points, or 3.86%, to 2407.87, and the S&P 500 tumbled 50.33 points, or 3.47%, to 1399.04. Sellers unloaded shares with conviction, and the New York Stock Exchange traded record volume.

"The market lost some $600 billion in valuation yesterday," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald. "Yesterday's losses were real. Technical levels were broken. The fundamentals may not bail this pullback out."

A large part of the blame for the huge drop went to a selloff in overseas equities, particularly in mainland China, that preceded the U.S. session. Markets around the world were deep in the red again, with the notable exception of a bounce in China.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, coming off a 9% dive, closed up 3.5%.

Elsewhere, however, traders were contending with heavy losses. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 2.9% to 17,604, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2.5% to 19,652. South Korea's Kospi gave up 2.6%, and Singapore's Straits Times Index surrendered 3.7%.

That weakness spread to Europe, where the London FTSE 100 was down 1.8%, the Frankfurt Xetra DAX was off 1.5% and the Paris Cac 40 fell 1.3%.

"The market was overdue for a shakeout," said Larry Wachtel, senior market analyst with Wachovia Securities. "We had gone eight months without a correction. The magnitude of the correction was overdone, however. The Chinese market that precipitated the decline has come back, so the question is whether we can follow suit."

Treasury prices were faltering after the prior Day's surge. The 10-year note was off 13/32, yielding 4.57%, and the 30-year bond was slumping more than 29/32, yielding 4.69%.

While no relief was found in the prepared testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who spoke before the House of Representatives about long-term fiscal challenges, the question-and-answer session yielded soothing comments regarding the central Bank's outlook.

"The Fed has been closely monitoring the markets. They seem to be working well, and working normally," said Bernanke in response to his reaction to the previous Day's decline. "My view is that taking all the new data into account, there is no material change in our expectations for the economy since I last reported to Congress."

Meanwhile, fresh government data showed that the U.S. economy grew at a weaker rate during the fourth quarter than previously reported. The Commerce Department said gross domestic product rose 2.2% last quarter, up from the advance reading of a 3.5% annual pace. The latest reading matched expectations.

Core consumer price inflation rose 1.9%, annualized, during the fourth quarter, revised lower from 2.1%.

The GDP report is the second of three that will ultimately be released on the fourth quarter.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Chicago purchasing managers'' index showed a decline to 47.9 in February from 48.8 in January. Though the Chicago PMI specifically discusses manufacturing activity in the Midwest, it's closely watched for clues about the overall stability of the nation's factory sector.

Additionally, the Census Bureau said new-home sales plummeted 16.6% to 937,000 annualized units. Economists had anticipated a slight decrease to 1.09 million annualized units from 1.12 million in December.

"We got two tests for the market since the open in the form of the Chicago PMI index and new-homes sales data," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist with A.G. Edwards. "After yesterday's extreme bloodletting, the market will hopefully continue to show resilience. We're testing the mettle of this market."

On the corporate news front, Home Depot (HD:) offered disappointing sales guidance for fiscal 2008, saying the residential housing market probably won't improve until at least the second half of this year.

Home Depot was losing 34 cents, or 0.9%, to $39.48. Rival Lowe's (LOW:NYSE) was falling by 53 cents, or 1.6%, to $32.73.

Sprint Nextel (S:) posted quarterly results that were in line with estimates, and the phone company said this year's revenue should also be around what analysts are expecting. Shares of Sprint were jumping by $1.29, or 7%, to $19.74.

As for the Day's research calls, JPMorgan upgraded Boeing (BA:) to neutral from underweight but cut its rating on Lockheed Martin (LMT:) to underweight from neutral.

Boeing was adding 0.8% to $87.90. Lockheed was recently up 0.4% to $97.92.

ThinkEquity raised Research In Motion (RIMM:Nasdaq) to buy from accumulate, and Merrill Lynch downgraded Deutsche Bank (DB:NYSE) , Lehman (LEH:NYSE) and other brokers to neutral from buy.

RIM was higher by 1.8%, and Deutsche was tacking on 0.4%. Lehman, on the other hand, was losing 0.9%.

Crude futures eased following the latest weekly inventory report from the Energy Department. Lately, the near-month April contract was down 59 cents at $60.87 a barrel. Natural gas was losing 25 cents to $7.28 per million British thermal units.

Last week, crude inventories increased by 1.4 barrels. Distillate supplies fell by 3.8 million barrels, while gasoline stocks slipped by 1.9 million barrels.

Metals prices were also losing ground. Gold was falling by $16.40 to $670.80 an ounce, and silver was lower by 43 cents at $14.26 an ounce.

With many believing that the stock market had gotten ahead of itself, it appears Tuesday's drubbing may have been the long-overdue consolidation that had been talked about for some time. As a result, a sense that yesterday's corrective activity was an overreaction, which plays into our reiteration that market fundamentals overall remain moderately bullish, triggered enough bottom-fishing interest to help stocks bounce back.

Even though the market was poised for a rebound before Fed Chairman Bernanke began speaking before the House Budget Committee at 10:00 ET, there's no question that his ensuing thoughts about Tuesday's sell-off helped provide the reassurance investors needed to stay the course long enough to recoup some of the market's meltdown.

After all, the spate of economic data hitting the wires before Bernanke even took the podium today was disappointing on the whole. At 8:30 ET, Q4 GDP was revised lower, as expected, checking in at 2.2%. The advance read a month earlier showed the U.S. economy grew at a 3.5% pace. At 9:45 ET, the Chicago PMI fell to its lowest level (47.9%) in February since April 2003, serving as a reminder that the manufacturing sector is struggling. Then at 10:00 ET, new home sales in January plunged 16.6%, the biggest drop in 13 years, adding insult to the ongoing injury that is housing.

Be that as it may, Bernanke surprisingly answered questions pertaining to yesterday's plunge and did so with a slew of remarks that helped participants look past the day's disappointing economic reports, rising interest rates and higher energy prices. Nine out of 10 sectors posted gains.

Bernanke reassured investors, saying "there didn't seem to be any single trigger'' for Tuesday's sell-off. He also noted that financial markets "seem to be working well" and there has been "no material change" in the Fed's expectation for the U.S. economy. In fact, he said today's downward revision to Q4 GDP is "more consistent with our overall view of the economy'' than the original report and that there's a "reasonable possibility" that the economy will show signs of strengthening as the year progresses.

The Fed Chairman also put to rest concerns about sub-prime mortgage lending spreading into the broader economy and said he sees no liquidity problem. Both items contributed to yesterday's widespread panic, and have provided an added sense of comfort for bargain hunters believing the sell-off was overdone.

Further underscoring renewed bullishness were notable declines of 15.5% and 11.5% on the VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) and the VXN (CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index), respectively. Both "investor fear gauges" erasing some of the heightened anxiety priced into yesterday's session, amid aggressive put buying, suggests a short-term bottom is being formed as sellers began to cover some of their short positions. DJ30 +51.91 NASDAQ +8.27 SP500 +7.73 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1370/1685/2.50 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1123/2181/1.96 bln

Stocks Come Off the Mat.......


3/1/2007



Stocks in New York overcame an ugly start to finish only modestly lower Thursday as an upbeat factory report helped entice buyers to the market.

The major indices dropped sharply at the open after new selloffs overseas and found enough strength to ever-so-briefly edge in to positive territory late in the day. After a short stay in the green however, shares retreated back below the flat line.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a loss of 34.29 points, or 0.28%, at 12,234.34. At their worst, the industrials sank more than 200 points.

Of the Dow's 30 components, 20 finished negative. Citigroup (C:) was the best performer, up 1.4%, while Intel (INTC:) slumped 1.4%.

The S&P 500 erased most of its earlier loss and ended lower by 3.65 points, or 0.26%, at 1403.17. The Nasdaq Composite shed 11.94 points, or 0.49%, at 2404.21.

"We've stopped the bleeding, and now we're just trying to regain a sense of calm," said Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. "Now, we're tied to all of the markets overseas, and we'll be constantly watching them."

Roughly 3.89 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Decliners beat advancers by a 10-to-7 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 2.80 billion shares, with losers outpacing winners 2 to 1.

Most of the selling pressure was relieved at 10 a.m. EST after the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index for February rose to a reading of 52.3. Economists had expected the index to advance to 50 from January's 49.3.

Numbers above 50 represent an expansion in factory activity, while those below the mark point to a contraction.

Even though the major indices bounced from session lows following the ISM data, the Dow remains lower by 553 points, or 4.3%, from its all-time closing high set last week. The index is also down by 229 points, or 1.8%, for the year.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has fallen 3.9% since its six-year high last week and 1.1% for the year. The Nasdaq is down 4.8% from its 2007 high, but is off only 0.5% for the year.

The erratic trading in the U.S. followed another decline in Asia and suggested that the effects of the plunge in global equities two days ago remains on the minds of investors. Tokyo's Nikkei lost 0.9%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 1.6%, and China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 tumbled 2.8%.

Meanwhile, markets across Europe were generally weaker. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was down 1.1% the Paris Cac 40 fell 1.1%, and London's FTSE 100 was off 0.9%.

On Wednesday, New York stocks stabilized after plunging during the prior session. The Dow gained 52.39 points, or 0.43%, to 12,268.63, but finished well below its highest level of the day.

The S&P 500 rose 7.78 points, or 0.56%, to 1406.82, and the Nasdaq was up 8.27 points, or 0.34%, to 2416.13.

"If Tuesday was just an aberration, then we should have gained back half of the loss," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist with Cantor Fitzgerald. "Being up 50 points [on the Dow] when we should have been up 200 or more means that the economic data and investor sentiment was worth 150 points of downside pressure."

"We had effectively wiped out all of the gains made since Dec. 4," added Pado. "There has been significant technical damage in this decline."

Little relief was found in the remainder of Thursday's economic data. The Commerce Department said that personal income rose a greater-than-expected 1% in January. Excluding food and energy, the personal consumption expenditure price index is now higher by 2.3% over the past year, outside of the Federal Reserves comfort zone range of 1% to 2%.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims rose by 7,000 to 338,000 last week. The less volatile four-week moving average increased by 7,500 claims to 335,250.

Treasuries were recently clinging to gains. The 10-year note was up 6/32 in price, yielding 4.55%, and the 30-year bond was gaining 7/32 to yield 4.67%.

Commodities were mixed. Crude oil reversed losses and was higher by 21 cents, finishing at $62 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold was lower by $7.40 to $665.10 an ounce. Natural gas slipped 2 cents to $7.28 per million British thermal units.

On the corporate side, a battle could be brewing for Texas utility TXU (TXU:) . A report out of the U.K. said that Credit Suisse (CS:) is trying to put together a debt deal that would fund a competing offer for the company. Earlier this week, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific said they would take over TXU for $45 billion. TXU added 31 cents, or 0.5%, to $66.50.

Oracle (ORCL:) agreed to buy Hyperion Solutions (HYSL:) for $3.3 billion, and both stocks were trading higher. Oracle gained 2.1% at $16.77, and Hyperion surged 20.4% to $51.57.

As for the Day's earnings, Viacom's (VIA:) quarterly results were better then expected, as were the numbers at Sears (SHLD:) . Viacom shed 2.4% to $38.61, and Sears slipped by 2.3% and closed at $176.07.

Elsewhere, Staples (SPLS:) edged past estimates and boosted its dividend, and Ciena (CIEN:) guided its revenue targets higher. Staples fell 2.6% to finish at $25.35, and Ciena dropped 10.1% to $28.28.

SunTrust Banks (STI:) revised its fourth-quarter earnings results lower to $1.39 a share from $1.46 a share. The previous earnings data had matched the Thomson First Call consensus. Still, SunTrust finished with a gain 43 cents, or 0.5%, to $84.74.

On the research front, Lehman Brothers upgraded Apple (AAPL:) to overweight from equal-weight. The stock added $2.45, or 2.9%, to $87.06.

Bulls Make Their Comeback.......


3/6/2007


Wall Street was in full rally mode Tuesday as a rebound in overseas bourses emboldened buyers, giving the major U.S. indices their biggest single-day gains so far this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 157.18 points, or 1.3%, to 12,207.59. The S&P 500 added 21.29 points, or 1.55%, to 1395.41.

The Nasdaq Composite was the strongest gainer, rising 44.46 points, or 1.9%, to 2385.14.

Nearly every Dow component finished in positive territory, led by gains of 2.7% in Citigroup (C:) , Altria (MO:) and American Express (AXP:) . Only Johnson & Johnson (JNJ:) finished in the red.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, benefited from gains in Apple (AAPL:) , Google (GOOG:) , Oracle (ORCL:) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW:) .

Many subdivisions of the market improved. The Amex Oil Index added 1.9%, both the Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index and the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index gained 1.7%, and the Dow Jones Transportation Average finished 1% higher.

"This was a relief rally that started overseas and shouldn't be surprising," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment officer with Oaktree Asset Management. "Now we have some short-term support areas and we have something to work off of. We'll continue to trade off the technical picture and the global market environment."

Larry Wachtel, senior market analyst with Wachovia Securities, cautioned that stocks still may not be out of the woods. "We will have to watch out for selling into strength," he said.

Nearly 3.36 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where advancers beat decliners by a 14-to-3 margin. On the Nasdaq, volume reached 2.14 billion shares, as winners trampled losers 4 to 1.

Stocks had floundered over the past five sessions after a massive selloff a week ago unnerved investors around the world. Despite Tuesday's rally, the Dow is still down 256 points, or 2.1%, for the year. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 has fallen 23 points, or 1.6%, for the year. The Nasdaq has given back 30 points, or 1.2%, for 2007.

Tuesday's climb followed a rally in Asian markets. Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said during a visit to Tokyo that the global economy is strong and that reforms in China would help mitigate market volatility.

Tokyo's Nikkei rose 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.1%, and China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 climbed nearly 2%.

The rebound overseas came as the Japanese yen posted the biggest drop against the dollar in three months and had the largest decline against the euro in 17 months.

A rising yen in recent days had prompted market worries that carry trades, in which investors borrow money in low-yielding securities like the yen and invest it in higher-yielding assets, were unwinding. Such an unwinding could present a liquidity crisis.

Markets across Europe mirrored the rise in Asia. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax rose 0.9%, the Paris Cac 40 was higher by 1%, and London's FTSE 100 tacked on 1.3%.

Back in the U.S., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed the Independent Community Bankers Association in Hawaii, but he didn't make any comments on the markets or the economy.

Earlier, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told Bloomberg that he sees a one-third probability the U.S. economy will fall into a recession this year. His comments follow remarks last week that while "it is possible we can get a recession in the latter months of 2007, most forecasters are not making that judgment and indeed are projecting forward into 2008."

Traders were reviewing Tuesday's economic releases for more clues on the direction of the U.S. economy. The Labor Department said fourth-quarter productivity rose by a revised 1.6%, in line with projections. Unit labor costs, however, doubled expectations, with a 6.6% rise for the quarter.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with High Frequency Economics, said he views the data as "another reason to worry about stocks, because rising [unit labor] costs and slower growth mean downward pressure on margins."

Also on the economic docket, the Census Bureau said factory orders fell 5.6% in January, steeper than expectations for a 4% decline. Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales dropped 4.1% in January.

Treasuries lost ground. The 10-year note was down 9/32 in price, yielding 4.53%, and the 30-year bond fell 13/32 to yield 4.66%.

Commodities reversed some of the previous session's losses. Crude oil was higher by 62 cents to close at $60.69 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, and gold added $7 to $646.20 an ounce. Natural gas was tacking on 22 cents to $7.47 per million British thermal units.

In corporate news, Citigroup offered to buy Japanese firm Nikko Cordial for nearly $11 billion. Shares of Citigroup ended up $1.33, or 2.7%, to $50.58.

Michael Eisner's investment company Tornante and private-equity group Madison Dearborn Partners said they will acquire Topps (TOPP:) for $385 million, or $9.75 a share. The trading-card company's stock jumped 90 cents, or 10.1%, to $9.81.

CBS (CBS:) said it will buy back 47 million shares for $1.4 billion under an accelerated repurchase program. The move is part of a plan announced last week. The stock was higher by $1.32, or 4.5%, to close at $30.94.

Shares of Novartis (NVS:) finished higher after the Food and Drug Administration gave approval for the company's high blood pressure drug Tekturna. The stock climbed $3.31, or 6.2%, to $56.85.

On the research front, Bear Stearns upgraded Texas Instruments (TXN:) to outperform from peer perform. Also, Deutsche Securities upped Dow component Altria to buy from hold.

Texas Instruments added 45 cents, or 1.5%, to $31.35. Altria was higher by $2.21, or 2.7%, to $84.42.

One week ago
fears that the market was getting ahead of itself, after running virtually unabated since bottoming in July, caught the bulls off guard, resulting in the biggest one-day point decline since the U.S. markets reopened on September 17, 2001. The Dow slipped into negative territory for the year as all 30 components suffered losses.

Today, those overbought concerns were thrown out the window, for the time being anyway, as a sense that a bottom has finally formed following a week of aggressive selling pressure gave stocks a sizable boost right out of the gate. The Dow soared 1.3%, logging its best one-day gain since last July; 29 of 30 components finished with gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also had their best performances of the year as sellers ran for cover.

Market internals were decidedly bullish as advancers outpaced decliners on the NYSE by a 5-to-1 margin while those on the Nasdaq held a 4-to-1 advantage.

Further underscoring the change in sentiment were declines of 19% and 14% on the VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) and the VXN (CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index). Known as the "investor fear gauges," both indexes spiking lower suggest investors were actively buying call options in anticipation that investors are growing more cognizant of the fact that recent events have simply had little to no bearing on the fundamental picture.

With a possible unwinding of the yen carry trade potentially leading to a liquidity crunch acting as an overhang, some profit taking in the Japanese currency helped to quell such concerns and prompted a rebound in Asian markets overnight. Japan's Nikkei index rose 1.2% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 2.1%. With the U.S. markets also extremely sensitive to any good news,
participants used the rally in overseas markets as a springboard to pick up bargains across the board.

All 10 economic sectors posted solid gains and, in stark contrast to the action early yesterday morning, when 144 of 147 S&P industry groups were in the red, only three groups failed to participate in today's broad-based recovery. More notably, the most influential sector of them all -- Financials -- also turning in the best performance lent even more conviction on the part of buyers' optimism about the health of the economy.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saying that sub-prime lending will not have a major impact on the financial sector or the global economy kicked things off on a positive note. Paulson also saying that, "The global economy is more than sound... it's as strong in the last couple of years as I've seen in a lifetime... I see no downturn" also helped to offset former Fed Chairman Greenspan's latest assertion that there is a "one-third probability" of a U.S. recession this year.

Dow has been in a trading range for most of the session...look at the intraday, oscillating back and forth between 12270 and 12300.

Of course a minute after saying that the bottom would fall out 

Time to watch.......
The Dow has bounced of it's resistance level. All could be well. However a close below 12000, could mean another 800 point drop. 



Global Rally Spurs Wall Street.......


3/8/2007


Stocks in the U.S. surged early following upbeat sessions overseas, then survived a brief afternoon scare before managing to close moderately higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 100 points during the morning before losing momentum. Around 2:30 p.m. EST, it showed a gain of only around 30 points. However, the Dow recovered and finished up 68.25 points, or 0.56%, at 12,260.70.

The S&P 500 rose 9.92 points, or 0.71%, to 1401.89, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 13.09 points, or 0.55%, at 2387.73.

Twenty-six of the Dow's 30 components finished in positive territory, with Verizon (VZ:) , AT&T (T:) , American Express (AXP:) and Honeywell (HON:) leading the gains.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, meanwhile, benefited from rises in KLA-Tencor (KLAC:) , Nvidia (NVDA:) , Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI:) and Akamai Technologies (AKAM:) .

Many subdivisions of the market improved. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index climbed 1.8%, the NYSE Financial Index gained 1%, and the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index was higher by 0.6%.

About 3.03 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where advancers beat decliners by an 8-to-3 margin. On the Nasdaq, volume reached 1.75 billion shares, as winners outpaced losers 3 to 2.

Last week, stocks took a nosedive amid a massive selloff around the world, but the major indices are performing better this week. Over the past four session, the Dow is higher by 1%, the S&P 500 has risen 1.1%, and the Nasdaq has added 0.8%.

"We're trading very well today on tempered optimism," said Jay Suskind, head of institutional equity trading with Ryan Beck & Co. "We've had sideways trading for the last few days, and after stabilizing we're now higher ahead of tomorrow's employment number."

The Labor Department will post February's jobs data on Friday at 8:30 a.m. EST. Economists expect that the U.S. economy added 100,000 workers last month.

In the final report before the jobs data, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 last week to 328,000. The less volatile four-week moving average rose by 4,750 to 339,000.

"Today's jobless claims number doesn't change our view on tomorrow's payroll number, which is good," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst with Jefferies. "The number was in line with expectations, so tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls number shouldn't stray too much from expectations. Friday's report will return our focus to fundamentals, away from global markets, which is what we need to do."

The global markets helped spur Wall Street's buying Thursday, as bourses across Asia posted solid gains overnight. China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index climbed 1.5%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.4%, and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was ahead by 1.9%.

Europe was also on the ascent, with London's FTSE 100 better by 1.2% and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX up 1.4%. The Cac 40 in Paris rose 1.3%.

"Global markets look to be stabilizing, which should put us back in a positive trend," said Hogan.

Headlining the U.S. session were the nation's retail stores, which posted their February sales results. The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart (WMT:) , said same-store sales rose an anemic 0.9% in February. Analysts had expected Wal-Mart to post a 1.5% rise, and the stock finished down 5 cents, or 0.1%, at $47.88.

On the other hand, rival Target (TGT:) beat expectations after posting a 5.7% increase in same-store sales last month. The retailer said it expects March comp sales to surge 11% to 13% because of the earlier Easter holiday. Target gained $1.09, or 1.8%, to $61.69.

Among others, Pier 1 (PIR:) said its February comparable sales dropped 8.4%. Same-store sales were down 5.7% at Pacific Sunwear (PSUN:) .

Limited's (LTD:) comps were up 3% last month, while Gap (GPS:) posted a better-than-expected 4% decline.

Both Costco Wholesale (COST:) and Federated Department Stores (FD:) reported same-store sales growth that came in below estimates, while Nordstrom (JWN:) blew away the forecast.

As for earnings, TiVo (TIVO:) posted a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss after the prior close, but still traded lower. TiVo fell 5 cents, or 0.8%, closing at $6.09.

Later, homebuilder Hovnanian (HOV:) is expected to report a fiscal first-quarter loss of 69 cents a share, according to Thomson First Call. Hovnanian was 0.3% higher ahead of the report, up 8 cents at $30.48.

On the research front, Ford (F:) was lifted to neutral from underperform at Credit Suisse. Ford rose 31 cents, or 4.1%, to end at $7.93.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, energy futures were falling. Crude oil was down 18 cents to close at $61.64 a barrel, and natural gas was off 12 cents at $7.24 per million British thermal units.

Metals prices inched higher. Gold rose $2.60 to close at $655.50 an ounce, and silver tacked on 1.5 cents at $13.12 an ounce.

Bond prices were under pressure. The 10-year note was down 10/32 in price, yielding 4.52%, and the 30-year was losing 15/32 to yield 4.66%.

Mixed End To The Trading Week,
A Flat Finish for Wall Street.......


3/9/2007


Stocks had an upbeat start after government employment data was right in line with estimates Friday, but the early gains gradually faded and the market ended little changed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 15.62 points, or 0.13%, to 12,276.32. The S&P 500 was up 0.96 point, or 0.07%, at 1402.85, and the Nasdaq Composite was lower by 0.18 point, or 0.01%, at 2387.55.

On the Dow, only 14 of its 30 components finished with gains, led by a 2.2% rise in Alcoa (AA:) .

Meanwhile, losses in Amgen (AMGN:) , Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI:) , XM Satellite Radio (XMSR:) and CH Robinson Worldwide (CHRW:) combined to sink the Nasdaq.

Roughly 2.68 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Advancers beat decliners by a 3-to-2 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.93 billion shares, with winners outpacing losers 8 to 7.

Over the last five sessions, the Dow added 1.3% and the S&P 500 gained 1.2%, compared to heavy losses the previous week. The Nasdaq rose 0.8% for the week.

The jobs report, one of the most important pieces of data the government releases every month, showed that 97,000 workers were added to U.S. payrolls in February. Economists had expected 95,000 positions to have been created, according to a Bloomberg poll.

The jobless rate eased to 4.5% from 4.6%. No change had been anticipated. Average hourly earnings, a key inflation metric, rose a greater-than-expected 0.4%.

"The stock market has been fairly volatile, as it appears investors are divided between an optimistic growth forecast and a pessimistic one," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist with Spencer Clarke LLC. "Today's jobs report is a perfect example of where you can see a positive and as well as a negative. That gave us this very choppy trading."

Meanwhile, in what is becoming common, job growth for the prior two months was revised upward. The government now says 55,000 more employees were put to work in December and January than had been first thought.

"We were expecting far more weakness," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment officer with Windham Financial. "To come in on target and have upward revisions to previous months, it shows that the ''Goldilocks'' scenario is still in place. This takes a lot of the fear out of the market."

Fixed-income traders sent yields soaring, as the report showed a stronger economy than previously thought. The 10-year note fell 19/32 in price, yielding 4.59%, and the 30-year bond sank 1 2/32 to yield 4.72%.

"Bond yields had been coming down on anticipation we were headed for an economic slowdown," added Mendelsohn. "Today's reading shows, from an employment point of view, that the economy is still strong and on track. It should be expected that bond yields would rise."

The report comes less than two weeks before the next Federal Reserve meeting. The central bank will meet for the second time this year on March 20 for the start of a two-day meeting, but no change in the target fed funds rate is expected.

Additionally, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $59.1 billion in January from $61.2 billion in December. Economists expected the trade deficit would shrink to $60 billion.

Turning to global markets, Asia was mixed overnight. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was ahead by 0.4% to 17,164, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave back 0.2% to 19,135. Mainland China's Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index was weaker by 0.6% at 2611.

On the corporate side, Procter & Gamble (PG:) reaffirmed its forecast for the March quarter, including its call for a profit of 72 cents to 74 cents a share. Analysts are expecting P&G to hit the high end of its guidance. P&G was off by 15 cents, or 0.2%, to finish at $62.16.

Embattled New Century (NEW:) dropped more than 17% after the company said it has stopped accepting new loan applications. The move adds fuel to the rumors that the subprime mortgage lender will file for bankruptcy.

Shares fell by 66 cents to $3.21. New Century has now dropped 90% from its 2006 close of $31.59.

Yahoo! (YHOO:) faced pressure after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Internet giant may scale back its partnership with AT&T (T:) . Yahoo! sank $1.59, or 5.2%, at $29.12.

Among ratings changes, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded FedEx (FDX:) to buy from hold, and the stock was higher by $1.08, or 1%, to close at $114.67.

The firm also raised Texas Instruments (TXN:) to buy from hold, saying the chipmaker's overstock inventory has been reduced. Shares rose 76 cents, or 2.4%, to $32.46.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, energy futures were lower. Crude oil slid $1.59 to $60.05 a barrel, and natural gas was off 15 cents at $7.08 per million British thermal units.

Metals prices slipped. Gold was off by $3.50 to $652 an ounce, and silver eased 15 cents to $12.97 an ounce.

Looks to me that we may see a negative week next week.  After spending the whole of this week rallying the Dow, COMPEX and S&P 500 all broke down in the last few hours of trading on Friday.  Technically, on the dow INDU 30 minute chart we can see that after the previous week's breakdown, a bottom was formed on Monday, and we have had a market rally since then, which developed into a rising wedge.  This wedge broke down on Friday afternoon, approaching 12,225 support and then rallying towards the close.  However, often wedges like this result in a rally back to resistance before the second wave of selling kicks in.  This is what I think we may see next week. 

Take ATI's 5 minute chart from Friday as an example.  The stock gapped up first thing, gave up all its gains and then proceeded to rally for most of the morning, developing a rising wedge.  When that wedge broke down, it made a sharp downward move, and then rallied back up to last resistance at 103.65.  From there it developed a small flag, which then broke to the downside, and the stock gave up all of its gains before finding support at the previous day's close.  I is currently unclear whether ATI has more in the tank to make a second rally above 103 on Monday, or will break below 102.30 support.

With the Dow, the chains are clearly set.  Support sits at 12,225 and if that breaks, it will likely drop to 12,185.  Below that support levels sit at 12,160 and 12,090.  A break below this level would probably signal the next significant bear move for the markets.  On the upside, resistance comes in at 12,300 and 12,325-30.  If the Dow manages to break above 12,330, which is significant, this could fuel a rally up to next resistance at 12,475, 12,540 or even as high as 12,610, whien the Dow really cratered.  There is the possibility that technically, this wedge breakdown is actually forming the handle of a cup n handle formation.  But from the technicl perspective, the Dow chart looks dangerous now, and Friday might be the highest we will see in a while.

Right now, I'm just trying to figure out what the market is going to do now, next week, short term.  But it also helps to take a longer term perspective and see where we might get to.  Obviously, as I said in the last post, my my short term reading of the situation suggests that we may have a bearish breakdown on our hands, and a breakdown below 12,090 and also crucially 12,000 may well lead to a move to last significant resistance at 11,670.  The daily chart also supports this hypothesis, with a rising wedge forming over the last week and a spinning top candle yesterday suggesting market indecision.

However, if we look at the long term weekly chart, there appears to be a rising channel that dates back to 2004, which the Dow broke out of in October last year.  The top of that channel comes in right now, right below we are sitting, and so may provide some support for the markets.  If it does, and we get a rally from this level, I could see 2007 developing into a distributional year, something like 2004 as the general market absorbs 2006's gains.  This would develop as a falling wedge or flag, probably ranging between 11,600 and 12,600.  This doesn't mean we have hit a market top, but would mean we would see a lot more rallies and breakdowns than we have in the last 6-9 months.

Obviously, I am only basing these thoughts on my read of the Dow chart as I see it, and I may be totally wrong.  I'd also very much like to hear from anyone who has any other thoughts.  Obviously the general direction of the market for 2007 is very important for us all, and  while technical analysis may have less validity for an instrument as huge as the dow it may give us at least some heads up on what to expect in the months ahead.

Late Climb Lifts Wall Street.......


3/12/2007


Stocks had a choppy session but found their footing late Monday and closed higher, spurred on by another round of merger news and lower oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42.30 points, or 0.34% to 12,318.62. The index had spent much of the day near the flat line, and earlier was down as much as 30 points.

Nineteen of the Dow's 30 components finished in the black, led by gains of 1.9% or more in Intel (INTC:) and Boeing (BA:NYSE) .

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 ended up 3.75 points, or 0.27%, at 1406.60, and the Nasdaq Composite added 14.74 points, or 0.62%, to 2402.29.

Roughly 2.57 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. Advancers beat decliners by a 5-to-3 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq reached 1.60 billion shares, with winners outpacing losers 9 to 7.

Market subsector winners included the Amex Airline Index, which was higher by 1.3%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector Index rose 0.9%, and the S&P Retail Index tacked on 0.5%.

Among losers, the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index fell 2.2%. The Amex Oil Index slid 0.4%, and the Philadelphia/KBW Bank Index dipped 0.1%.

"The market ''shake-up'' of the past couple of weeks has done little to the top industry groups," said Paul Nolte, director of investments with Hinsdale Associates. "We expect there may be more declines ahead that are likely to force money from the top-performing sectors toward the bottom. It has happened repeatedly in the past, and we expect the future to at least rhyme."

As is often the case, the new week started with the announcement of several takeover deals. The biggest will see New Jersey's Schering-Plough (SGP:) pay $14.5 billion for the Organon BioSciences unit of the Netherlands'' Akzo Nobel (AKZOY:Nasdaq) . Schering-Plough added 10 cents, or 0.4%, to $23.95.

Staying in the health care sector, UnitedHealth (UNH:) will acquire Sierra Health Services (SIE:) in a deal worth $2.6 billion. Sierra, which is valued at $43.50 a share in the transaction, jumped 15.8% to end at $41.57.

Another big arrangement will see acquisitive buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts take over Dollar General (DG:) for $7 billion, before the assumption of debt. Shares of Dollar General surged 25.6% to close at $21.07.

Elsewhere, Ford (F:) confirmed that it will sell its Aston Martin business in a deal that values the brand at $925 million. Ford will retain a $77 million stake in the business. The automakers shares eased 11 cents, or 1.4%, at $7.82.

As for earnings, video-game maker Take-Two (TTWO:) posted a narrower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss. Earnings and revenue for the quarter topped the Thomson First Call consensus. Still, the stock reversed earlier strength and finished down 20 cents, or 1%, at $20.07.

Among analyst moves, UBS downgraded embattled New Century Financial (NEW:) to reduce from neutral. The firm joins those who believe New Century will be forced to declare bankruptcy.

Shares of New Century, which started the year at $31.59, were halted for the session at $3.21 on the NYSE as the exchange reviewed the situation.

UBS also upgraded retailers Kohl's (KSS:) and J.C. Penney (JCP:) to buy from neutral. Kohl's was 0.3% higher, and J.C. Penney gained 1.5%.

Away from stocks, commodity prices were weaker. Energy was on the decline, with oil slipping $1.14 to finish at $58.91 a barrel. Natural gas fell 17 cents to $6.91 per million British thermal units. Gold gave back $1.70 at $650.30 an ounce.

Treasury prices edged higher in the absence of any economic releases. The 10-year note was up 10/32 in price, yielding 4.55%, and the 30-year bond was adding 17/32 to yield 4.69%.

Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei was up 0.8% at 17,292, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.6% to 19,442. London's FTSE 100 and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX were each lower by about 0.1%.